Heading to Cleveland in July for my annual pilgrimage in which I consume about 4 cases of GLB then bring 4 more back to CT. This year I may leave some of my kids behind to make room for a couple more cases.

I am pretty sure that GLB is the only way that I can justify coming back to Cleveland. Who the fuck (besides me) vacations in Cleveland? Man, I vacation like Cleveland sports fans spectate, in the most painful, masochistic possible manner.

Coming from a Wolverine, we're the football equivalent of a formerly abused wife of a meth addict who just remarried the safe nice guy. We're just glad we have someone who's aware that it's a rivalry and that tackling on defense is integral. Baby steps.

jclvd_23 wrote:Local store here has a 12 pack of Spaten Oktoberfest on sale for 11.99 this week. Any thoughts on how the Spaten brand holds up compared to others when it comes to their Octoberfest beer?

Haven't had the Spaten. Just picked up some GLBC and some Bells Octoberfest which are both good . I forgot how easy to drink the GLBC is. Start in and 3-4 are gone before you know it. Let me know how the Spaten is and I'll keep my eyes open for it.

Bells brewery "THE ORACLE". A double IPA that puts Lake Erie Monster in a figure four leglock and makes it beg for mercy.

Anybody have any of that stuff?

IMO, the 2 are not comparable outside of both being classified as Double IPAs. Personally, I find Oracle to be way too bitter/dry and quite unbalanced. I wouldn't call it bad, per se, but its too far on dry hoppiness for me to enjoy. How much does your friend enjoy hops? In that respect, I would say Oracle is a lot hoppier/pinier and Monster is much easier to drink. Oracle is a palate crusher.

As for your Oktoberfest question, go try Ayinger Festbier or the new Marzen they have at Winking Lizard. Spatan is one of my favorites and I was completely underwhelmed by last years edition of GLBC. Paulaner Oktober-Marzen can be drank by the gallon as can Hofbrau Marzen. Bell's has been a flagship of the craftbrewing explosion, but like GLBC, I find that their beers all have a similar finish in their hops profile that gets a bit annoying.

Also, if you can find Schmaltz Freaktoberfest, get some. They have it up at 1899 for $4.50 a crack which is pretty steep, but I loved the stuff. Definitely not for everyone as its big on the Marzen/Malt profile, and could be classified as being a bit sweet. Worth a try, and its fun to look at (bright reddish-orange hue, slightly transparent).

"All Beckett needs to do to cap off this mess is order some fried chicken and beer" – 5/10/12 before Beckett got chased in the 3rd at Fenway.

jclvd_23 wrote:Local store here has a 12 pack of Spaten Oktoberfest on sale for 11.99 this week. Any thoughts on how the Spaten brand holds up compared to others when it comes to their Octoberfest beer?

Haven't had the Spaten. Just picked up some GLBC and some Bells Octoberfest which are both good . I forgot how easy to drink the GLBC is. Start in and 3-4 are gone before you know it. Let me know how the Spaten is and I'll keep my eyes open for it.

As RNE stated, the Spaten Oktoberfest was a solid brew...especially for the price. Also picked up a 4 pack of Dogfish Punkin Ale....enjoyed it as always.

I traveled downtown to a respectable beer shop and stood in line before it opened to pick up a bottle of this. It was sold out everywhere in NYC within minutes of being made available on October 3rd. This whole specialty beer thing is getting out of hand. $25 for a 750 ml bottle. First time I've ever lined up for a beer. Haven't opened it yet but I will soon, I lucked into a 2nd bottle and that I will keep for a couple year to add a little age.

Found this at a different shop. This is Founder's Scotch Ale aged in Bourbon barrels. I opened one last night. The taste was closer to a bourbon cocktail than a beer. This has been hugely popular, I didn't love it - I'm not bourbon fan. It be suspect it will mellow with age, the alcohol kick at the end is hot, so I'm throwing the rest of the 4 pack in a closet for a year as well.

Last edited by scott on Thu Oct 13, 2011 2:12 pm, edited 1 time in total.

Cream ale is a style of top-fermented American beer resembling a German Kölsch.

Unrelated to cream ales, the term cream is also sometimes used to describe a texture of beers pressurized with nitrogen, allowing cans (using a widget) and take-home mini-kegs to resemble true draft beer. Boddingtons pale ale is an example of a beer that uses this sort of packaging.

Cream ale is a style of top-fermented American beer resembling a German Kölsch.

Unrelated to cream ales, the term cream is also sometimes used to describe a texture of beers pressurized with nitrogen, allowing cans (using a widget) and take-home mini-kegs to resemble true draft beer. Boddingtons pale ale is an example of a beer that uses this sort of packaging.

Ziner wrote:Bet you bastards can't find this shit. I am working through my stash tonight. RNE we need to do another xmas ale trade.

Anytime my man. I need a another list of west/pac coast breweries that ship to you in Colorado. Ten Fidy was awesome, but I'm dying for some Cali beers. BTW, for anyone on facebook, go take a a look at GLBC's page. They released Xmas ale in bottles at the brewery last week and 2 ladies came in and bought 33 CASES. That's about $1350 worth. JFC I bet they own a store and plan on reselling it at mark-up or putting it on ebay.

"All Beckett needs to do to cap off this mess is order some fried chicken and beer" – 5/10/12 before Beckett got chased in the 3rd at Fenway.

I have been sampling some 21st Amendment Brewery Live Free or Die IPA as well as their Black IPA. Both are in the 70 IBU range for hoppiness. Have also tried a few Lagunitas styles lately as well, L'il Sumpin IPA and can't remember the other. Lagunitas makes some stiff beers ABV.

Stumbled across this. Westvleteren Trappist Ales considered to be the best beer in the world, will be shipping gift sets to the US in limited quantity. I have considering importing a crate of this stuff for awhile, but with a new house and the costs to get it over the pond, I'll have to wait.

JCoz wrote:So I finally tried some of this and I think its one of the very best Porters I've had, I think I'll drink many of these this fall/winter:

Try Troegs's "Dead Reckoning" yet?

We went to State College two weeks ago, avoided the showers there and took two kegs (like 5gallon soda kegs) of homemade stuff. A black IPA and a Coffee Stout. We drank under a tent as it snowed, played washers and ate. Never went to the game. Did I mention the tent was set up in the hotel parking lot?